182 THROUGH ANGOLA 



such ceremonials the chief wizard, on handing 

 the Great Jagga hi* " easengula," or axe, bids him 

 kill a male child brought before him, so that 

 strength and fortune may come to the adventure. 

 On the deatli of such a Chief, two wives with 

 limbs broken but still alive are buried with him. 



Combined with their ruthless ferocity, was an 

 iron discipline w-hich accepted death at the hands 

 of their own Chief for a failure or retreat. They 

 extended their forays on at least one occasion 

 to the very capital of the Congo kingdom, San 

 Salvador, and even offered the Portuguese, who 

 came there to trade with them, choice portions 

 of human flesh as food. 



: In 1G17, during the Governorship of Luiz de 

 Vasconcellos, there commenced a war with a Chief 

 called X'Zinga, which lasted many years. In 1621 

 one Chief sent his sister to Loanda to negotiate 

 a peace with the Portuguese. This remarkable 

 woman, who became a Christian and was baptized 

 by the name of Anna Zinga, at first charmed the 

 Portuguese with her intelligence, dignity, and 

 apparent zeal for the faith, but as rapidly lost 

 both their regard and her belief when she poisoned 

 her brother, gained his throne, and rcadopted 

 every pagan practice. She conquered the kingdom 

 of Matamba and waged continual war with the 

 Portuguese with the aid of armies of the savage 

 and predatory Jaggas, whom she conquered by 

 her personality and finally governed, outdoing 

 them for twenty-eight years in their bloodthirsty 

 practices. 



The Queen would appear, on occasions of state, 



